An Insight into Life as a Sex Worker [Part One]
💌 This blog & our related emails and social media posts were created with the input from 3 current sex workers/strippers who work across Aotearoa and overseas. These three are a part of our Altitude Sex Worker Panel who are contracted to help guide us here at Altitude on how best to honour our pole roots and show up for our local sex worker communities.
It’s important to acknowledge that every individual's journey and perspective is unique. This blog reflects the experiences and opinions of those on our panel, but it may not capture every nuance or viewpoint - nor is it meant to be a reflection of the industry and worker experiences as a whole, but more of just an insight from a few.
Therapist, Artist, Entrepreneur. Each of these titles are often viewed with high regard. And yet the title of Sex Worker, someone who encompasses all of these titles within their role, is viewed in a very different light.
Sex workers/strippers face stigma from society on a daily basis. They can experience unfair working conditions, dangerous environments and judgement all because society deems their job title less than. As pole dance studios, we exist because of the sex workers and strippers that paved the way for us. We're here to help fight with and for our sex worker communities and remind everyone that sex work is real work.
We asked three local sex workers, Ivy, Sabeen & Lilith six questions about their experiences within the industry. These questions were aimed at providing an insight into what it's really like working in the clubs and to shed some light on the challenges they face being a part of the industry.
In part one we cover two questions that sex workers are commonly asked. Often stripping and sex work is romanticised as a fun and easy way to make some quick cash. We wanted to offer a little bit of a reality check on this by asking our panel what a typical shift looks like for them (spoiler - it's not just dancing for one song and getting paid for it). It's also become standard practice for society to ask how much money a sex worker makes - a question that is pretty much avoided in any other industry; so again after prefacing exactly why we were asking the question, we asked our panel to set the record straight when it comes to a sex worker's earnings. Check out their answers below 🩷
Question One: What does a typical shift look like for you?
Sabeen: "This is such a difficult question to answer, because it differs so much from country to country, club to club, and even night to night. Generally, I have a set time I need to be at the club and ready, usually sometime between 7-10pm, finishing anywhere from 1-6am.
Once I’m ready, I spend the shift “working the floor”, which basically means moving around the club, mixing and mingling with customers in between doing “stage spots”. Most clubs I’ve worked at have a stage rotation, so there’s an order of when each dancer goes on. You need to keep an eye on where the rotation is at and make sure you’re on stage for your turn, dancing for two or three songs. You either get topless or naked, depending on the club’s rules and then do a tip round.
If it’s a busy night, or you’re working when there aren’t many dancers on, you might be up on stage a lot throughout the night and end up physically exhausted by the end. Some clubs, though, put very little focus on the stage. In rare cases, there isn’t even a pole or stage. In those situations, it’s more about working the floor.
You earn money from tips and bookings (like lap dances). Depending on where you’re working, tips might bring in decent money, but generally the real earnings come from securing bookings. Ultimately, being a stripper is a sales job mixed with a range of personas and skills you draw on depending on each individual client. I approach customers and try to figure out why they’re there. It’s about reading people, understanding their fantasy or desire, and adjusting to create that experience.
I might approach a stag do looking for fun and entertainment. Or a shy individual curious about a fantasy they’ve finally decided to explore. A couple who’ve planned a date night and want to experience a lap dance together. Someone struggling with their mental health who just needs to talk. A disabled or neurodiverse person looking for a safe, judgement-free space to explore their desire. Someone lonely and craving intimacy. Or maybe just a rich businessman who wants a pretty woman to listen while he talks about how great he is.
So while my shift is shaped by how the club operates, it is just as much determined by who walks through the door, what they are seeking, and whether I am more the seductress, the party girl, the therapist, or the ego stroker that night. It also depends on where I am at. My capacity changes from night to night, and whatever is happening in my personal life can really affect how much I can bring the party energy, hold space for someone going through something heavy, or tap into feeling sexy and seductive. How well what I can offer aligns with what people are looking for can make a huge difference in how successful or enjoyable my night ends up being."
Ivy: "This is so dependent on what club I’m working at and especially dependent on what country. My typical shift in Canada was so different from my typical shifts in Australia or New Zealand. There is nothing “Typical,” about Stripping. But I can narrow down a few “typical,” or commonplace aspects I experience almost every shift, wherever I have worked.
- Wearing Earplugs. The clubs can be incredibly stimulating and loud, so I will likely wear earplugs at least once within a shift when I’m not engaging with customers.
- Tracking my night on my phone. Every shift I’m always time stamping in my phone to keep track of my earnings and how much I’ve drunk.
- Dead periods. There are almost always dead/quiet periods within a night. During these I try to remain occupied but often I’ll have a moment staring into the abyss with existential dread and anxiety about what the fuck I’m doing with my life. - It is an incredibly humbling experience being unclothed and earning no money.
- Staring into the abyss is also typical when I'm in painful bookings counting down the time.
- A rum and dry is pretty much typical of every shift unless I'm in a period of sobriety.
- Performing on stage is typical of almost every shift.
- Navigating and enduring some dumb ass shit customers will say is also typical of almost every shift.
- Schooling my face and intonations, maintaining palatability for the male gaze, is also typical of a shift for me.
- Being “rejected,” told no by customers is typical of every shift."
Lilith: "I don't believe there is such thing as a typical shift, I've worked at 5 clubs in Aotearoa and every club and city have a different economy and clientele.
Shifts for me are normally 5-6 hours starting around 9/10pm and going until 3/4am, however I have worked as long as 12 hours before with some clubs having a 5am closing time.
During my shift I will dance on stage for 2-3 songs at a time, work the room for tips and engage with customers to encourage them to book lap dances."
Question Two: Do you really make as much money as they show in movies?
Lilith: "I wish! I can't speak for what it is like in other countries, especially the US where many of those movies are based, but in the current New Zealand economy it's uncommon to get hundreds of dollars thrown at you, let alone thousands.
Many dancers in non-tourist areas rely on "regulars" to make good money, your average strip club visitor is a harder sell and will often try to negotiate prices and services."
Ivy: "To preface my answer; This question is both invasive and inappropriate. Enquiring about my earnings is probably what I get asked the most, - generally by customers within the club. In what other industry do we feel entitled or justified in asking someone’s earnings?
There is this gross romanticism of Strippers and our earnings, as well as a whorephobic** perception that our work can be “justified” if we earn over a certain margin. For the education of those reading and because I am being paid, I will answer, but I do not endorse asking Sex Workers about their earnings unless you’re compensating them financially and they consent.
I have been in the Stripping industry consistently since 2020, but my journey started back in 2017. In that time I’ve witnessed and experienced a lot. Yes large amounts of money can be made, BUT, post Covid atop of other variables (recessions, accessibility to online sex work, oversaturation etc), there has become a smaller number of us who can continue making these large sums.
I know Strippers who are still walking away with 2-9k every week, I know others who are making less than $200 or $100 in a night (NZD). This industry is so incredibly varying AND inconsistent. You have to be a very certain type of personality, with particular skills and proficiency to earn large amounts in this industry. Though I've never been in the highest earners sect, I earn comfortably and generally consistently when I work. But it has taken me 7 years to establish the skills, proficiency, routine, understanding and headspace to be able to. A lot of this, garnered off of the backs of a lot of traumatic experiences and so much hard work. Experiences and learnings I don’t want to ever have to go through again, even to earn the numbers that I do now."
**Definition of Whorephobia: Whorephobia refers to the negative stereotypes, stigma, and marginalization sex workers face, which stems from the pervasive condemnation, judgement. and hatred of sex workers. Resource here.
My answer is both yes and no, and there are a lot of factors that influence it.
Many people do not realise we do not earn an hourly rate. We are classed as independent contractors, and all of our income we make is money through tips, bookings, and/or selling drinks. We keep a percentage of what we sell, but that percentage can vary hugely between clubs which take anywhere from 20 to 70 percent of a dancer’s earnings. There is also a lot of variation in the price of bookings. So our income depends entirely on who comes in each night, how much they spend, and what cut the club takes.
I always say that one person can make your night. A busy club does not always mean big money. It is common to do the labour of a stage spot, approach someone half naked, and hear “I am just here to look.” But if the right person, or a few of them, comes in with both the budget and the intention to spend, and they happen to like you, that can completely change your night.
Clubs may also enforce fines and bonds. In a typical contracting arrangement, fines might be used to recoup real financial losses a business incurs. In strip clubs, though, fines are used as a form of control and extra income for the venue. We can be fined for being late, missing a stage spot, wearing the “wrong” outfit, or calling in sick. The reasons are often arbitrary, inconsistent, and sometimes personal, depending on who is managing that night. These fines can range from small amounts that quickly add up to large deductions that wipe out an entire night’s earnings.
In addition, some clubs enforce bonds, often around $1,000, which are taken out of our earnings under the claim that they protect the club against potential losses. In reality, these bonds usually act as a fee for access to work. Clubs regularly find weak excuses not to return bonds when we leave. Shift fees are also common. Between fines, bonds, and shift fees, it is entirely possible to work a full night and come out owing the club money for your time there.
Then there are seasonal factors. Each location has its busy and quiet periods. During the slow months, when I’ve been stripping full time I have needed to travel to other cities for work. That means paying for travel and accommodation upfront, with no guarantee of what I will make once you get there. Sometimes I’ve been lucky, sometimes I haven’t. If a club is oversaturated with dancers and short on clientele, it comes down to luck whether you earn anything at all. In cities with multiple clubs, that competition multiplies. So whenever someone tells me they want to try dancing for fun, I always say do not. For most of us, this is not a novelty, it is how we pay our rent.
I have seen and experienced everything from leaving a shift in the negatives to walking out with a four figure paycheck. But when you factor in fines, bonds, and the high cuts clubs take, dancers carry almost all of the financial risk, while the venue profits either way. The system is designed so that even though we can make great money on a good night, that is never guaranteed.
If you are visiting a strip club, budget accordingly. Tip the dancers, and maybe book a dance. And if you cannot afford to do that, it is probably best not to go."
Still sound like a fun and easy way to make some quick cash? Yeah... not quite. As we've said at the start, these opinions and experiences are that of just a few people working in the industry and do not represent every single sex worker out there. Our intention is not to paint the industry in a negative light but to highlight some of the realities and show some appreciation for the people working within it. The mahi is hard, and those working within the industry should be treated with respect. 👏 Sex 👏 work 👏 is 👏 real 👏 work.
Read Part Two - Stigma here.
Blog proudly written by a human, not a robot x
